Vintage Native Bags

Happy New Year to all!

Of course, this blog is almost DEAD but once again alive with the start of the New Year.

Anyhows, I am currently liking local, native handbags.  Probably coz I was liking leather, sturdy-looking bags the past year and now, native bags suddenly look fresh.

I was just browsing through stuff at home when I came across these stashed goods.  They are probably my mom's (a bag even had some of her stuff way back when she was still unmarried!) so I have no recollection whatsoever of using them before.

Lovin' these casual looking bags:

This is my favorite from the bunch.  Incredibly cute:

A little too native for me and don't know what to wear this with, but still liking it a lot!

Adorable basket bag.  Looks great for picnics!

A clutch and some coin purses.  I like!

Appropriateness

Sometimes, fresh off JAC Liner, I'll go directly to my favorite siomai-an and do an hour of thrifting.  Thrift stuff are so expensive these days-- I recently bought a P450 bag and the clothes range from P100 - P200, at least on the stores I frequent.  Anywhos, I recently bought a dress despite the expensive price tag because I am madly in love with it.

After trying it on (I haphazardly placed it over my clothes outside of the changing rooms sa ukay), an elderly woman spoke to me out of the blue and said: "Alam mo, bagay sa 'yo yan; mukha kang dalaga" which I appreciated because I know how hard it is to compliment a total stranger.  But then afterwards and in a moment of sudden paranoia, I thought geez, I must have looked like an old hag to revert to tight-fitting dresses to be able to look like a dalaga.  I mean, c'mon, I just recently ditched some of my mini-skirts because it is not "age-appropriate" - a fact I lamented as I love some of my skirts -  and then now maybe the dress that I bought is not age appropriate as well?

Once again this is the paranoid/in denial me talking.  I do believe you could wear or do whatever you want despite your age!

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

I unearthed this calendar from my closet:

 

Talk about one other thing to throw in at eBay!  I remember this autographed calendar from Justin Cuyugan but I do not remember that Bea Alonzo signed it as well.  'Di pa ata sya sikat nun???

Crochet + Crochet

My first crochet project. Sort of pangit. Mga 4 hours kong ginawa.

The hat that was supposed to be my sister's or my grandma's. Ngayon mapupunta na sa 2-yr old cousin ko sa liit. *sob*

Random pic--

Ngarag look.

Decluttering

So it is 7:18 AM Dec. 25. Merry Christmas to all. I missed our Noche Buena, if we ever had one. I think I fell asleep at 10 PM in front of the TV having a Heroes Marathon. Woke up at around 4:30 AM and opened my computer.

After a while, I remembered something I had been meaning to search this week. An electronic journal! Yessiree, I just had this idea of buying myself an electronic gadget. Never mind that I just use my laptop once a week, my digicam every three months and my iPod once in a blue moon. Fortunately/unfortunately that sums up my entire electronic life and they are all gathering dust -- ok, except for my trusty cell phone and even that is not being used thoroughly. Nevertheless, I wanted an electronic journal so I was determined to see if such a gadget exists.

The nearest solution to my dilemma: a tablet PC... something I haven't thought about but has been existing for a while.

Let's see if I'll actually buy one.  There is a feeling that I don't desperately need one and the truth is, I don't.  It is something I could do without and just adds more clutter...  maybe it's just the consumer in me that wants a gadget now.


Sources:
Toshiba Portege M780
iPad
Nokia N800

Eeek!

Luv them all!

Random Thoughts

Of Spending

There is something seriously wrong when one buys something and then feels guilty afterwards.  I am turning into too much of a consumer that I have placed myself on a budget diet.  I have never been a shopaholic and I know I am not one now but something's amiss when one begins to have a sinking feeling in her stomach after looking at her purchase for the day and wanting to lie whenever mom asks, "Is that skirt new?"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Of Stores

I might have written about my shopping ban but still...

Forever21 is here!  The authentic one.  In Megamall.  Plus Payless is opening up (or opened up?) in Alabang, I think.  I don't even know why I wrote that as if I'm excited because I have never fully shopped at F21 so maybe it's just memories kicking in.  Payless though I would love to browse through their shoes.  Note the wording though, it's just "browse" not "buy".

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Of Blogging

For some reason, I am currently associating blogging with having a much more editorial content as opposed to "old-style" blogging as in personal blogging where you just jot down random stuff about yourself, like an online personal journal.

So most times I am categorizing posts as "blogworthy" or not and eventually decide not to write anything at all.  This is due to the fact that I know topics I choose and write about are personal/random stuff which has no relevance whatsoever to other people.  When I was younger I actually thought that I'll take a job related to writing -- be it an editor or a contributor or whatever but when I think about it, no, I don't think I'll make a good job at it at all!  Somebody once told me that I would make a great instructions manual writer (!); well, maybe I have the patience to do it but I haven't even thought of doing that kind of writing.  And as for editorial writing -- forget it.  I just suck at that. 

Individuality

I've been thinking about individuality/individualism much lately.  Maybe it's because recently I have this feeling that I have to conform, go along with certain people or seek their company(?).  Filipinos, culturally, are very collective-minded people... we're just raised that way, to be interdependent and to "get along" whether it be with family, friends or officemates; and this is why most people would say that we are so family-oriented whilst on other lands, parents supposedly "kick out" their kids when they're 18!  Personally though, while I like this interdependence thing (it gives me a warm sense of belonging), there's something about individuality that appeals to me...

Maybe this has been brought about by the recent Lakers-Boston (?) game.  Everybody seems to know who is betting against which team, who wins or not and almost everybody watched the game in the pantry.  For a second it gave me a very puzzling feeling that I'm the only one who couldn't care less about basketball and it had me feeling a bit left out.  Am I the only one who is not interested in basketball???  I mean, really?

Sometimes I do not know if I should force myself to like something just because everybody likes it; or even to be updated with stuff as to not feel quite so out of place.  "Dapat marunong kang makisama," people always say but where do you draw the line?  I would have to say though that in my earlier years, I would try really, really hard to be interested but now that I'm older, my mindset is a little bit more rigid and I could think for myself what interests me and what not.  I don't have anything against basketball nor the people who watch it (even if they just watch it to feel like they belong), of course not!  In the same way that I hope people don't judge me because I like watching showbiz chika from time to time and thinking about it, no, I don't watch it to conform but I watch it out of genuine interest/curiosity as vapid as it might sound.

Of course, all these stuff makes me feel like a teenager.  Peer pressure at 28?  Surely I should be through that stuff already?!?  And to keep in mind that I don't necessarily have to like what other people like, in the same way that other people don't need to like what I like.  And really, I shouldn't mind that I may feel out of place from time to time; it just means that people are different and their interests are different and that's okay.  I remember writing before how I am bothered with blatant rebelliousness (especially with no causes at all!); well, it still bothers me a little as that's not true individuality (although I do understand where rebels are coming from).  True individuality doesn't mean you have to prove anything or break the rules or be different for the sake of being different.  No, no, no.  Individuality means you stick with what you like - even if it's that dreaded word "mainstream" - and respect other people's likes, too.

In order to have faith in [one's] own path, [one] does not need to prove that someone else's path is wrong.  -Paulo Coelho, Warrior of the Light